Dear All, This is a brief up-date before we visit Kenya next month. More detailed news and pictures will appear after our return.

On Christmas Day Julius wrote:Merry Christmas to you all.We thank God for keeping us all safe despite the ups and downs in life but we are not complaining.Just inform you that the renovation of the old house is now complete and it looks very smart but the shelves for the store house will be done in January 2018, God willing.Thanks a lot for everything. May God bless you all for the good work you have continued to do over the years.Pictures of the completed work should appear next newsletter.

On January 11th Julius wrote again:Happy New Year 2018Praise be to the Almighty God. We hope that you are all well. Thanks a lot for your emails and the Riziki Quiz. It looks very interesting and I hope that many people will take part. (I have enjoyed a few hours tackling this quiz and almost completed it – about six questions still waiting for what I consider to be satisfactory answers. Do have a go when you have some spare time. - Ian)The Riziki children are all well and went back to school on 3rd January 2018Sorry to inform you that Ann did not perform as well as we had hoped in the KCPE (Kenya Certificate of Primary Education) exams. She got 248 marks out of 500 and she was not called to any school but we are trying hard to find a school for her. (In spite of her medical problems, Ann has worked to the best of her ability and deserves to continue her education)About the cow shed. It is still needed. The only thing is that we have not been able to get a planner. We tried Peter the builder but he was not able to plan a good thing so we are waiting and searching.Thank you very much indeed for efforts not in vain God bless you all.Julius & Esther

On January 16th Liz wrote:Hi Ian and DianaHappy New Year. Its been a busy two weeks getting everyone back to school. The last one being Ann who got a local boarding school that Elizabeth helped us find. She reported on Friday and it was such a hectic, long hot day we forgot to take the pictures😊.Its hot, dry and everything green is starting to dry up. The tomatoes in the green house are coming up well and we expect to harvest in two weeks or less. In good news of the year we were able to harvest one bag (90kg) of sorghum that will see us remove porridge flour from the budget for at least half the year and the next harvest will hopefully see us end the year without buying flour. This was an initiative by Moses that we are proud of. (Moses is our gardener who works very hard for Riziki.)In other news we are talking to some people about recycling the waste washing water to see if we can reduce our water consumption, especially in these dry months, but all year generally. Will let you know how it goes.I am out tomorrow visiting farms to see, and get ideas of, economical cow shed structures.That's all from my end.😊

BlessingsLiz

On January 18th Julius wrote again:Dear Ian & Diana,Praise be to the Almighty God we all thank Him for keeping us safe. The Riziki children are also well despite a few cases of sickness here and there but none of them is serious.As Liz mention we managed to get a school for Ann through Elizabeth’s connections and she reported on 12th January 2018One of the cows gave birth to a male calf a few days ago. (Our cows seem to have difficulty producing female calves!)It is too hot, very dusty and very dry but we hope rains will come one day God willing.Julius & Esther

Thank you for taking the time to read this newsletter. Your interest in Riziki is much appreciated. Without your help, Riziki could not exist.